A Kalos Journey
by GobbleBot
Summary: When a reluctant Fennekin gets chosen to go on a journey with a trainer named Cassie, it becomes something he never quite expected. Read as he meets new pokemon, overcomes his reluctance of being with his trainer, and his fear of battling. New chapters posted every day or two, so check back often!
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokemon.**

**Welcome one and all to my first fanfic! I'm a new writer hoping to use this site and all you BEAUTIFUL people to my advantage. I know that there will be questions, and errors. TONS and TONS of errors. But I'll fix them! I swear. **

**...yeah, right.**

**This is my FIRST attempt at making a real fan fiction, so please give me tons of criticism! I need to improve however I can.**

**Words in _Italics_ are thoughts telepathy, and wherver else I deem them fit to go.**

**Prologue: Trainer**

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"Oh, they're all so cute!"

I squinted through the red particles emitted from my pokeball as they started to dissipate. The harsh sunlight was a welcome relief compared to the relative darkness in the device I was captured in. Although no light penetrates the inside of a pokeball, somehow pokemon can _feel_ what's going on around them. Me, I don't think too much about the "hows" of that stuff. No thank you, I'll leave it to more the philosophical pokemon out there.

Not only did this light wake me up from my slumber but as a fire-type, it felt very rejuvenating.

"I can still hardly believe it Professor! My own pokemon! I'm filled to the brim with excitement!" I looked to my left and right, just as I had once before. To my left, sitting on the unfamiliar carpeted floor was a Chespin. I knew this Chespin very well, as we were together in every waking moment of our childhood. Pokemon like us are rare to my understanding, and it's not surprising that we were both bred to help escape extinction. But when the humans who saved our species bred a few extras, we were sent of to a lab to be given to idiotic kids. His name was Sage, and we hatched next to each other. I like to think that we're friends for life, but as soon as one of us leaves we'll never see each other again.

Probably.

After sharing a snicker with Sage at the excited nature of the girl, I glanced at the Froakie to my right. The last new trainer we visited choose one of my friend's, another froakie. Although we weren't raised together like with Sage, he was a close friend. The day after we lost him, this dirtbag of a Froakie arrived.

He sneered at me with a confident look on his face. He knew about the intense popularity of Froakie in this region; and his confidence was rightly shown.

"Might as well stay in your ball" he said with a cocky smile. "Soon I'll be 'outta here while you two losers rot in this dump." I resisted to urge to spit at ember at him right there, as he pointedly started smiling at the girl and jumped around acting very playful. The girl crouched in front of him giving his head a gentle rub. He happily croaked at the girl as she laughed at his eagerness.

"Hey little guy! Nice to see you too!" she said. The current owner of us three, Professor Sycamore, took at step forward. "Is that who you want Cassie?" Cassie was a nice name. The girl seemed like a caring trainer, one who I wouldn't mind going with. But why should I try to get picked anyways? better to stay here with Sage, despite the lab's conditions.

"Um..." she took a step back and stared at the three of us.

"Hey Froakie, maybe you'll be better off this way! You'll could get properly pampered now! Someone to finally treat you like a queen!" Sage snickered. I laughed at and turned to Sage. "Maybe he'll even get a little bow! I hear there's lots of ways to fashionably abuse your Froakie!"

Sage laughed making a chittering sound while Froakie stared at us with a murderous glare. Cassie turned her head to look at me.

"Your fur is beautiful. Professor, what's this pokemon called?" The professor seemed to fire off the facts like he just memorized them. "That there is Fennekin. He's a fire type pokemon. You remember what his type advantages are? Or has school failed in teaching you even the basic facts?

"Fire is effective against grass!" seeing the professor's expression told her he was waiting for more. "And...Ice?" she said dubiously.

Sycamore let out a kind-hearted laugh. "You'll have to memorize those if you want to have a chance on your journey." Cassie frowned for a moment, but turned it into a smile. "Just another thing you'll have to yell at me about when I get all my badges, huh professor?"

Based on their conversation, I figured that the two humans knew each other well. Then again, everyone knew Sycamore. Being the region's top pokemon professor and all.

"Fennekin is a fire fox pokemon. They're very rare these days. You should feel very lucky to have one." Sycamore said.

"Pfft. C'mon professor, you don't believe all those stereotypes do you? Us kids are actually quite thankful for all the stuff you old people spoil us with." Cassie said in an sardonic tone.

"Anyways professor, I choose_ that _one." she said, pointing at me. My mouth dropped open in shock. Why would she pick me?

"WHAT?!" a voice said on my right. "That's TOTALLY unfair! You should pick me! I'm better than any stupid fennekin!" Froakie said, pointing at himself.

Unaware of Froakie's outburst, the girl crouched in front of me. "What do you think little guy? You want to join me on my journey?" Sage was staring at me in shock. How could I possibly leave him?

_"It was going to happen eventually"_ I thought. _"Might as well be now."_

The professor handed my pokeball to the girl. "Excellent choice. I-" Unknown to the girl, my ears perked down as I stared at Sage before the energy enveloped me and I was transported into my pokeball.

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**So yep, there's the prologue. I don't have much to say other than leave your criticisms and suggestions on the reviews, and I hope to improve this story from this wretched chapter. Im hoping to release one chapter every week, unless I mega-evolve into my final form: Procrastinator.**

**...Yeah. Bad joke. **

**Thank you so much for reading!**

**This Chapter was shorter today because it was just the prologue. Expect 1000-5000 word chapters! Hopefully.**


	2. Chapter 1: Journey

**Welcome back to my story. I Guess. Oh hey Aiden!**

**Aiden: Please stop talking to yourself. This is an embarrassment.**

**Now now, is that any way to treat your lord and savior? Now is it?**

**Aiden: *sigh* No, oh exalted master.**

**There we go. On with the story!**

Chapter 1: Journey

It's weird inside a pokeball.

You become nothing but a bunch of energy, and sometimes my mind feels like it bouncing off the sides of the walls. Snatches of conversation, the smell of a forest, visions of towns.

Sometimes I could see it clearly, and other times it seemed to be nothing but a trick of eyes. And nose... And ears. That being that, it was dark. I didn't like the dark. So when I found myself on a wooden floor in a small-looking bedroom, I was a bit surprised.

Although this was no messy boys bedroom, with clothes strewn everywhere and the suspicious scent of rotten eggs looming over you, this room wasn't the model of perfection either. There were a few posters seemingly barely attached to the wall, and all of them seemed to be portaying famous gym leaders, or maps of the different regions.

There was a dresser with several drawers pushed out in the back of the room. Typical human clothing seemed to be stockpiled in the dresser. Why humans could create such interesting things yet refuse to do as something as simple as keeping a room clean is something I'll never comprehend.

A bed was shoved into a corner with a strange looking object next to it. The object was a thing I've only heard of once before, referred to as television. Humans could sit for hours on a cough staring at it. A waste of time in my opinion.

In the center of the room a few feet in front of me was the girl- Cassie. She seemed to be admiring me. After getting my bearings I realized that this was her room, which made me ponder why she had sent me out of my pokeball.

"I'm so glad we'll be going on a journey together" she told me. Behind her on her bed was a bag filled with miscellaneous items. Articles of clothing, scraps of food, and other items supposedly needed on a long trip.

I also noted with partial interest that a large can of pokemon food was sticking out.

The journey as she called it, seemed to be of importance to her. Although I was positive that I've never heard anyone talk of this before, I knew that it must be important to her.  
She seemed to take my silence as a response, because she started talking again.

"It's just, after watching both of my sisters go on their journeys and having the time of their lives, I couldn't wait to have my own!" She turned to pointlessly adjust some materials in her bag, making it an even bigger mess.

I started to lose interest in her human yapping and remembered poor Sage. If I didn't really want to leave him, like I had believed earlier, then why did I feel relief now? I wanted to curl up and maybe even cry but I wasn't about to show weakness to the human in front of me. I wasn't going to be some pampered pokemon like Sage and I had teased Froakie about.

In the end, I decided that I might as well make this new life that I was stepping into a good one.. A journey by the sound of it could be a lot of fun! It would do me no good to ignore my new trainer however.

When I turned my attention to Cassie I noticed that she had taken an item from her bag. It was a red looking thing that I couldn't even begin to know how to describe.

But being grown in a daycare and lab had its advantages. There was plenty of time to learn human symbols and letters. On the side of this strange device read "Pokedex."  
The girl seemed to look back at her pokedex and to me for a moment before nodding to herself and putting it away.

"What's that?" I say, even though I know there's no point. Humans can't understand pokemon obviously, even though we could understand them. All she was hearing was yips and growls.

Tones, however, never seemed to differ for any kind of language or species. Hearing and seeing the questioning look on my face, she said, "This? It's just a pokedex. All trainers get one. It has a lot of different uses. "

I didn't really care anymore. Let the humans play with their silly little human toys.  
She stepped a few feet closer to me and started to crouch down. I didn't like her being so close, and I let a growl rise into the back of my throat. She seemed a little bit shocked for a moment and stepped back to a comfortable distance.

"Sorry, you must be confused. And..maybe scared? But don't worry! You don't need to be scared. We're a team now!" I let the growl stop, but remained in a cautious position. In the back of my mind I knew there was no point of doing this, but stubborn as a Tauros I remained like that. Something she said sparked at my mind. A team? Why would she say that? Every other human I met treated me like a dumb animal. But she was treating my as something more than that.

"Listen," she said, inching closer. " You and me? We're partners now. We might meet new friends, and that'd be wonderful! But you and me..." She was within arms reach now. "... We're going to be best friends."

She reached out to me very slowly. Not knowing what to do, I leaned out and sniffed her hand. Seeing this as a sign of acceptance, she gently started to rub a spot behind my ear.  
And let me tell you; that felt heavenly. It took a lot of willpower not to flop over on the floor.

She laughed and seemed amused at my obvious liking of being scratched.  
I liked her. Although I will miss Sage, I won't regret this. Because thinking of him having a trainer like Cassie is enough to make me lose concern.

After Cassie had packed all her stuff for this 'journey' that she had talked about, she told me to follow her down a staircase, and I gladly obliged. As soon as I jumped off the bottom step I realized that this is where we were when she picked me to be her starting pokemon.

Normally, Professor Sycamore had teens visit the pokemon lab In distant Lumiose City to receive their first pokemon. For him to have gone out of his way to visit Cassie in her own home, they must've known each other very well. The first floor of this home was significantly larger than the one room upstairs. In one glance I noticed a kitchen and dining area, a computer and several other doors leading to other rooms. I could only guess what lay beyond them. My attention however, was drawn to the computer. In the screen was a mail document. Concentrating my focus on the document, I read that it was sent by someone named 'Markus Kevian.'

"Oh Cassie!" a voice said from the kitchen. I saw the woman now walking toward Cassie had several defining features. Her hair was up in a bun, and was a dirty blonde color. She had lots of Cassie's features, so I would have to assume that this was her mother. They shared piercing blue eyes, and well sculpted features. Finally, Cassie's mother had a spearow perched on her right shoulder.

The assumed friendly spearow let out a greeting to Cassie as well.  
Although Cassie's mom did not appear to be crying, her face was red and lines were creased with worry.

"Oh little Cassie. Where'd the years go? My baby is already going on her journey! Are you sure you can't stay another day or two? The worlds a dangerous place..."

"Oh come on, mom." Cassie said impatiently. "You didn't raise me to be stupid, did you? And besides. I got this little guy with me. " she made a motion as if she was presenting me. I was nervous around her mom, and I didn't know if Cassie expected me to do anything. The mother looked at me dubiously, but then a light entered her eyes. "Well, I suppose I have nothing to worry about." She said coming close and giving me a gentle but quick scratch on the head. As an afterthought she added, " What are you going to name him?"

"I'm not sure, but I've been thinking." Cassie replied. She had a thoughtful look on her face. "What do you think of Aiden? I got it as inspiration from a word I learned about in school. It's from this buried language that barely anyone can decipher. Aidan means 'little fire' which is why I thought Aiden would be a great name!"

This thoughtful and knowledgable girl seemed a lot different from the bubbly and crazy-happy girl I saw earlier.

"That's a wonderful name!" Cassie's mom chirped.

"I'll miss you mom, I really will. But I should go now." Cassie said with a quick and casual hug. Her mom was comically opposite, making sure Cassie had no regrets and had everything she needed."

"I love you baby, so come back if you even think you might not be able to handle something."

Cassie walked out though the door waving back to her mom. When Cassie turned to the outside and started closing the door with me in front of her, I noticed the sad mother walk over to the computer. She gave a disgusted look at the mail on the monitor and promptly trashed it.

**-  
Chapter one! Yay? Leave feedback in your review!  
When I was writing this chapter, I didn't notice how many words it was. But it felt about the right size for a this scene.**

**If you didn't see this before, I'll say it again: I don't know when I'll post chapters. It could be smaller chapters everyday, or longer chapters every few says or a week. It just depends. I think I actually take way to long to get to a point in this story. First chapter, and we've barely started the journey. Do you agree?**


	3. Chapter 2: Let's Battle!

**Welcome back for another chapter!**

**Aiden: Can you please just get on with it already?**

**Fine, fine... Without further ado: my first attempt at a fighting scene. Give me feedback as always!**

Chapter 2:

_"Aiden, huh? It's a good name, with a nice meaning behind it. But 'little flame'? I know I'm small, but..."_

I continued to contemplate my new name as Cassie led me through a small grassy yard outside of her house. I hadn't thought much of the boxes located here or there inside the house, but seeing the overgrown vegetation outside made me wonder if Cassie and her mom had recently arrived here.

Speaking of here, I had no idea where I was. Naturally, a pokemon lab had plenty of books. Books including basics on human dialect and information about trainers were aplenty. However, I had never seen anything concerning a map on THIS particular region, let alone the name of the town I was in.

As we walked onto the odd-looking thing I could only assume was a street, Cassie started saying something. "Alright, so... We're going to head out of Vaniville town and head to Aquacorde town." She glanced at me apologetically. "It's possible that they don't let pokemon out of their pokeballs in the shops around there, although I honestly don't know. Would you be ok with going into your pokeball when we get there?"

The girl completely surprised me once again. Not only was she speaking to me as If she thought I could answer back- but she also showed reluctance to put me into a pokeball. And she looked rather embarrassed to even ask me about it.

"Well, I guess if I have to..." I said, figuring she would understand my general thought. I looked around a little bit as we turned the corner heading to a human sized gate. This town seemed to be a place where many humans lived, with houses everywhere. I saw trees over a wall to my left, but my attention turned back to the gate when it opened as we approached. I yipped a bit when I realized no one was there to open it. Only then did I realize how nervous I was.

Just yesterday I was comfortable in a lab with my best friend. Now I was on a journey to who knows where with a trainer. An amateur trainer at that.

Cassie grinned at me. "It's just a door, Aiden. No need to get scared." My tail dropped between my legs in shame. I couldn't look weak in front of her. I had to be strong.

A quick thought dissolved the valor of my previous sentiment, however. I was going to be battling. From what I've learned, it's common sense that trainers battle pokemon. Sage and I have roughed each other up in play, but would real battles be as innocent? I knew how to tackle, growl, and use ember. Very basic and easy stuff for a fire pokemon to know. But the thought of going up against other pokemon made me cringe. I wasn't a fighter- although I wasn't exactly a lover either.

"Don't be like that! This is exciting! We're going to meet new people and pokemon, visit new places and have tons of battles!"

"Yeah" I thought, my stomach churning. "This is going to be a very exciting trip..."  
We walked through the gate and I felt an immediate change in the surroundings. Forest surrounded us on both sides and a cascade of noises burst into my head.

While I stopped and looked at the leaves to my left, Cassie was still walking forward. Since she felt that it was fine I decided to fall beside her again.

"CASSIE!" Someone yelled from behind us. Although I refrained from crying out, Cassie turned around in time to see me comically jump two feet into the air.

A girl ran up to us with a very joyous expression. "I'm so glad that I didn't miss you gong off! If only I had gotten here earlier to see you pick..." Her eyes fell onto me for the first time. "Oh Cassie, who's this toughie you picked out? He's so small!"

I have had enough of hearing that. Seriously! I was a perfectly normal sized Fennekin! Although truth be told, I've only met one other Fennekin and even she was taller than me. But she was much older! It doesn't help that my new name meant 'small.'

"You like him?" Cassie beamed. "I just knew he was the best of the whole bunch. His name is Aiden!"

My self-confidence restored, I happily greeted this new stranger, although it came out as yips and barks to them.

"Anyways Cass, lets get to one of the real reasons I came! I can't let little sis go on her dangerous journey without an pokemon evaluation from me!"

Cassie however, groaned. "Seriously Kaia? You have what- six badges now? I'm sure I remember you saying you got it last week from Ramos. My guess is that you just want some free training!" she said in a mock accusatory voice while crossing her arms. However, she said this in a happy voice, with no spite to be heard.

"Don't worry Cass! I'll take it easy on you. How could I possibly let my littler sister have her first battle with anyone but me?"

On that remark, 'Kaia' by the name Cassie called her, sent out a strange looking pokemon with an icy hide. It had a short but pointy spike on its head and two small eyes staring at me from underneath.

"Hi..." The creature said to me. " So I guess were gonna battle...?" The little guy looked scared. However, he was nothing compared to me. If I had boots, I'd be shaking in them.

Cassie took out that strange pokedex device I saw earlier and pointed it at my enemy. After a pause, she said, "A Bergmite, huh? We have this one Aiden!"

Kaia had walked over a good distance away from her sister and now yelled, "You want to do the honors?"

"Right. Aiden, you ready? Run up to Bergmite and tackle!" After a moment of doing nothing, I realized she was commanding me. That's what happened in battles, didn't it? Trainers told their pokemon what to do.

Even after realizing this, I couldn't move. I was too nervous and scared. Added together, well...

Kaia yelled from the other side, and she apparently didn't hear Cassie try to get me to attack. "Not gonna make the first move, huh? That's fine. Let's go Bergmite, use powder snow! Before I could find out where it came from, a barrage of snow crashed into me. It was freezing cold, but my fur was able to keep me slightly warm. The pain however, was a problem. It was the most pain I've ever felt in my life. Even though it made me want to curl up, I knew that I could take a lot more damage than that.

"Aiden!" Cassie yelled, sounding frustrated at me and worried for me at the same time. " C'mon, use ember!"

This time, desperate to make Cassie less angry at me, I ran towards the Bergmite to get a closer shot, and let out an ember. I knew the fiery warm flame wasn't my strongest, but it seemed to do a number on the Bergmite.

"Let's go Bergmite, use take down!" Bergmite charged towards me with a powerful yellow aura enveloping it. My instincts kicked in while Cassie yelled out a quick instruction to dodge, but neither were quick enough to escape the takedown attack.

It slammed into me with what felt the the force of a freight train. I must've been pushed back at least a dozen feet because I was right next to Cassie. I got up, but much slower than I normally would've.

"Aiden, are you ok?" Cassie fretted. "Alright, tackle! Then try to let off a quick ember! "  
Following orders, I ran towards Bergmite with as much speed as I could muster. I heard Kaia yell for it to dodge, so Bergmite was able to barely dodge me. I brought up a flame inside of me and focused it in my throat. I let out the charged ember straight at the Bergmite. A look of shock showed on his face, and he ran out of the ember's path only to be caught in the side. After the ember burned away, a small trace of it remained. I triumphantly recognized it as a burn status.

Cassie recognized this as well, and attempted to make good use of it.  
"Aiden, quick! Use tackle!"

Kaia countered by saying, "Bergmite, takedown!" I stared with a terrified expression as I realized how much this was going to hurt.  
"Oh please let this be over quick-" but my train of thought was sharply cut by the sound of my head slamming into Bergmite's. The result was the world fading to black while I heard Cassie scream my name.

-  
Cassie's POV

Cassie glumly watched as Aiden's unconscious form was transported to his pokeball. She realized that there was always going to be losses, but she never wanted her first battle to be a loss.  
"Don't worry Aiden.." She whispered to her pokeball. "We'll get you patched up soon.

Kaia had already returned Bergmite and was walking over to join Cassie.  
"Great battle!" she exclaimed. "I see real potential! You and little Aiden are going to make a fabulous team!"  
"But I lost!" Cassie said incredulously. Surely her sister wasn't just trying to give her false hope.

"C'mon Cass, look at the stats! That was your Aidan's first battle right there, and he did awesome! I'm sure he has lots of passion just waiting to burst through! And my Bergmite! Even though I just caught it, it was waaaay more experienced. Don't look at this battle thinking that you lost, because you didn't. " then taking a less serious tone she said, "Besides. I'm sure you learned some valuable lesson or some crap like that."

Cassie knew her first elder sister was right. This was only the beginning of her adventure. But Kaia did not take away the intrigue she felt. Seeing Aiden jump like that when Kaia surprised the both of them made her realize that he may not have been the best fighter that she could've chosen.

But maybe that's the point? Although strength is all well and good, lots of parts of battling had to do with trust and bonds.

"Yeah, but that was a really good battle sis. Thank you so much for visiting me, but I think it's about time I get poor Aiden to a pokemon center."  
"There's a woman in Aquacorde who'll heal your pokemon for free," Kaia offered. "You 'ought to go and find find her. "

After saying a quick goodbye and thanks to her sister, Cassie picked up her bag that she had dropped during the battle and ran to Aquacorde.

-  
After entering the seemingly small-looking town, Cassie couldn't help but stop and admire it. Although the town was not particularly beautiful or perfect in terms of cleanliness, this was the second town that she had visited in the Kalos. The first of many. And still the excitement of having her first battle lingered. Even though she lost, she now accepted the fact that Aiden had a few big disadvantages besides type matchup.

After asking an older gentleman where she could find a place to heal her pokemon, she was directed to a house on the east side.

Although in her first glance she found litter and normal looking buildings. But as she descended a staircase she found in front of her a beautiful looking fountain with a grassy area circling it. A small crowd was in this main area seeming to do nothing but talking and admiring the fountain. Several children also run around, the hardships of the world nonexistent in their minds.

Cassie barely noticed any difference between a regular old house and the supposed house that she was directed to. The only visible detail was a red canopy above the door, the same red commonly associated with pokemon 't a pokemon healer make it a little more conspicuous?

Nervous about barging into a complete strangers home, Cassie decided to politely knock on the door.

After only the smallest of pauses, a muffled from form inside said, "Come in!" Cassie obliged by doing so. If Cassie thought the outside was inconspicuous, she had no idea how inconspicuous things could be. The inside of the house had nothing too out of the ordinary. Bookshelves containing many books, likely about pokemon, and a woman behind a desk were the main pieces of furniture.

The smiling woman asked, "How may I help you?" Although she knew that this woman had probably gotten plenty of customers, she was hesitant to give her new best friend to this stranger. "My pokemon is sick and my sister told me you could help. Can you?" She asked in a light tone.

"Of course! This town may not have a gym, but I insisted that every town needed a pokemon healer. The town council refused to let me have a full-blown Pokemon center, but they do provide me with basic healing potions."  
The woman held out her hand. "May I please have your pokeball?"

"Sure." Cassie hesitantly handed it over. "So.." She continued, not letting Aiden's pokeball out of her sight as the woman turned around. "When will I be able to get him back?"

The healer told Cassie to wait a little while, while she would go to the back room to heal Aiden.

After a few minutes, the woman returned with Aiden's pokeball.  
After she handed it over to Cassie, she said, "Do you happen to be heading to Lumiose City after this?"  
After wondering why this woman would want to know where she was headed the pokemon healer continued. "It's just, we're running out of supplies." She said glumly. "I actually had to use my last super potion on your Fennekin. Don't feel guilty about it though, it was going to run out soon." She paused, perhaps hesitant to ask a stranger for a favor.

"Would you be willing to go to the poke center in Lumiose and ask the nurse there something? I want you to ask her for more supplies to be sent to me."  
Cassie figured she could do this easily enough. If things were going to go to plan, she was Aiden was going to get a little hurt going through a nearby forest. She would end up going to the poke center anyway.

"Of course!" She said relaying the reason why it was no trouble.

"Thanks, you're a lifesaver! The only thing left to say, is be careful. Santalune forest has been getting dangerous recently. Pokemon there have gotten more aggressive."

After thanking the lady for her advice and for helping her, Cassie started to leave.

"Oh wait!" She said, remembering something to ask."Do you know if pokemon are allowed out of their pokeballs in towns and buildings?" It was a necessary question. Cassie wanted to spend as much time as possible with little Aiden, especially in public places.

"If I were you, I'd say that it'd be fine to keep pokemon like Fennekin out when you're in towns. But take note that some buildings or shops don't let trainers keep their pokemon out. "

Cassie thought on this. "What do you mean 'Pokemon like Fennekin?'"  
"Short or smaller pokemon like that. I doubt many trainers can let their pokemon like hippowdown in large crowds."  
This made sense to Cassie. She thanked the woman once more and returned to the brick street.

Aiden's POV

I finally felt myself being transported out of my pokeball. Although I can't feel pain while being in a pokeball, when it happened I realized that I had been healed. I greeted Cassie with a happy yip and ran up to her to show my gladness to be healed.

She also made an effort to show that she was happy to see me as well. "Hey Aiden! So happy that you're feeling better!"  
She then switched to a topic that made my ears fall. "Now, I know we lost that match with Kaia. But don't worry! You were at a bid disadvantage, and it WAS your first battle after all. So remember... We're still a team. And I promise you, we're going to be the best!"

My ears perked back up at her happy attitude. I was greatly relieved to hear that she didn't blame me for our loss. She in fact, seemed to blame the loss on herself equally.

"Cassie, I promise I'll protect you!" I barked, trying to boost up my self-confidence. Although never believed that we would ever become the best, we would do our best trying,

"Alright" Cassie said, gathering her thoughts. "Next, we're going to buy some pokeballs and potions so that we won't risk you getting hurt too much without a poke center around.  
Then, we're going to go the Lumiose. There's someone there we have to visit for and errand.

Even as I yipped my approval, I felt that we were coming up with a compromise for understanding each other. It made me happy to know that she wasn't completely clueless to my attitudes.

Cassie pointed to a tall building crossed the street we were on. "Over there is a shop that we can buy pokeballs. You can tell by the symbols on the signs." She pointed out a symbol of a pokeball on a sign across the street, and a sign of a potion next door.

We walked to the pokeball shop by passing through a small crowd of people. To me, the human legs were to the scale of a humans height compared to a tree. A followed Cassie to the shop without incident, although I did notice a few stares from people in the crowds.

The inside of the shop seemed to be normal when I inspected the place. Cassie didn't seem to have any concern however, so I felt more relaxed. It took me a moment to realize that I had become to care for Cassie. I wanted to protect her, and show her that I can be strong.

Why? It hasn't even been a day. Although in that case, why do any pokemon stick with their trainers? I realized this was getting a bit too intelligent of a thought for my taste, so I decided to tackle the subject later.

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**I got kinda bored writing this chapter. Too much talking and emotional junk. (Even though my crap writing didn't make it that emotional) but I did end up putting in a fight scene!  
#Firstfightscene tell me how it was! How can I improve? More action? More cats?  
Less crap?**

**Aiden: Less crap, please.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 3: Santalune Scare

**Chapter 3! Yay!**

**Aiden: What took you so long?**

**Well...I had lots of important stuff to do.**

**Aiden: Like what?**

**...**

**CHAPTER THREE EVERYONE!**

Chapter 3:

After buying several potions from a nice man at the nearby shop, we headed out to Santalune forest. The forest was awing, to say the least. A terrain of trees with an almost completely leaf covered forest floor. Leaves of multiple colors flew in the breeze, broadcasting the news of a winter coming soon.

Although my coat kept me warp, Cassie seemed to be a bit chilly. She was clad in a red hoodie, the same shade as the tufts of fur in my ears. She wore no hat, letting her slightly messy shoulder-length hair move with the wind. Blue jeans were worn on her legs, with black boots to cover her feet. Despite the hoodie, it didn't appear to help against a breeze that could chill you to your bones.

Despite the cold conditions, Cassie's attitude was as warm as ever.  
"Aiden, what do you think of this forest? It's great, isn't it?"  
I know it's stupid. She couldn't understand me, but pretending that she could made me feel less alone. "It's great!"

My ears flickered as the breaking of a large twig occurred likely not twenty feet away. The forest was alive. Blind to Cassie's human eyes and ears, pokemon were everywhere. In the grass around us, watching from the trees. None of these pokemon were aggressive, however.

As we walked around, I could sense a pokemon ahead. I don't know how, but pokemon could sense when they're being watched. Apparently Cassie could feel it as we'll.

"Be ready, Aiden." She said. A pikachu blasted out of the taller grass, gaining even more speed for a powerful tackle attack.

"Aiden, dodge it!" All of the sudden, the muscles in my limbs turned into lead. I did not want to end up like how I did last time.  
Despite my heavy muscles, I dodged out of the way of the extremely quick pikachu.

"Stop moving so I can hit 'ya!" The pikachu said, electricity fizzing out of its pocket cheeks. His voice sounded whiny and hoarse. He wasn't even a fully grown pikachu, even though his size demanded it.

Cassie seemed to want to take advantage of the pikachu's failed tackle.  
"Aiden, ember!"  
I used the same process I always did when I used an ember attack. I held the consuming fire in the back of my mouth until it was too hot to handle. The pikachu was zigzaging around aware of my incoming attack yet getting closer to launch his own. I aimed a foot right of where the pikachu was, counting on his movements to predict where he was going next.

The flame's accuracy was true, and the pikachu yelped in pain as it hit his torso.  
He finished stomping out a flame on the grassy floor, and immediately launched a counterattack. He flagged once or twice, showing that he was injured.

But that didn't stop the barrage of tackles and quick attacks that hit me every few seconds. The pikachu gave me absolutely no time to recover.

Cassie, seemingly at a loss of what to do, ordered me to take it head on like the last battle with a tackle attack. This pikachu was cunning, but also foolish. My guess was that he wanted to show his power, so he also launched a tackle.

Like last time, we met head on, yet the outcome was difference. This pikachu's strength was in speed, but not as much attack. He was knocked to the ground with relatively little damage done to me.

"Yes! I did it Cassie!" I barked, finally able to make her proud of me.  
But the pikachu wasn't done yet.  
He got to his feet and let off an attack I've never seen before- a frightening thunderbolt attack. I was too shocked (no pun intended) to move, and so it hit me dead on. I felt like every nerve in my body was on fire- it was a whole new kind of pain.

After he finished his attack, I slumped to the ground. I was not unconscious, or defeated, but I might as well be. The pikachu was only in slightly better condition.

"I can't believe it." I thought. "I can't win a single battle. I'll never be good enough... It just too frightening to think straight..."

But maybe it wasn't all for nothing.

"Aiden! I think you weakened it enough, I'm going to try to capture it!"  
Cassie pulled a baseball sized pokeball from her bag, and started to throw it.

But as soon as pikachu saw it, he made a complete u-turn into the forest. Stubborn as a Tauros I got to my feet with spots darted across my vision. I refused to let the battle end so suddenly like this.  
What was previously a terrible pang turned into a faint sting as a ran after him.

I heard Cassie call for me. But as I ran faster after the pikachu her voice sounded much more muffled. I knew Cassie would be able to find me, as long as the pikachu I was following ran in a straight line. Still, it was unsettling thinking that I could get separated from her.

I was naturally fast, with my four legs giving me speed. But the pikachu was much faster, not to mention I just battled with him.

He dived left into some bushes, and I crashed after him. I was losing him, he was already twenty feet ahead.

In a blur, the pikachu twisted around and shot another thunderbolt at me. Since I was already moving, I was able to dodge to the left. Leaving a charred floor where I was just standing.

"Leave me ALONE!" Pikachu screamed, running off once again. I chased after him for another moment to no avail. He was just too fast, already he was too far to ever hope of catching up. I stopped and panted, attempting to get air back into my seizing lungs. I looked up just in time to see his tail disappear behind a tree.

Then, the only thing I heard was the pounding in my head.

After the blood started flowing back into my brain. I realized that I took too many turns. How would Cassie be able to find me?

I heard a pidgey flapping its wings in the distance. It would be night soon, and the hoothoot would come out. I wanted to run back to where I thought the main path would be, but my lungs were still recovering.

After a minute or two I decided to try calling out.

"Cassie!" I waited. No response. "Cassie!" I screamed. Already my dry throat was burning. "Cas-"

"Will you SHUT UP already?!" someone in the bushes raged. A disgruntled zigzagoon poked his head out. "Waking the whole stupid forest won't help you."

A stepped back ready to battle if needed. Although with my lousy excuse for fighting, I would never win.

My ears perked down. "But what am I supposed to do if she doesn't find me?" I whined, knowing full well what I child I was being.

The zigzagoon snorted. "I don't know. Find another mate for all I dare.

An emotion that wasn't quite embarrassment rose up. "She not my mate, she's my trainer!" I said hotheadedly.

"Oh, a trainer pokemon." He rolled his eyes. "Well, this is your chance! Run and never look back!" He said with a bemused expression. He had now fully stopped out of the bush, revealing his small form. His fur was a brownish and white zigzag pattern, with spiky fur sticking out as well. Even more so, with his disgruntled appearance.

Although the option of leaving her held no attraction, seeing Sage again did.  
I shook my head. "No, I can't leave her. I'll never find a better trainer." I said with a decent amount of conviction. "Besides. If any pokemon had the chance to run away, don't you think there'd be a lot more 'missing' pokemon?

"True that," He said as he preened his abused fur. After a few seconds I thought of calling Cassie out again when he said, "Tell you what. I'll bet that you're completely lost here, right? Well I know this forest better than the back of 'me hand! I'll help you find your 'trainer.' But..." His tail wagged in excitement. "If we do find here, we'll part ways, dear acquaintance, and you can do whatever your heart desires. But if we DON'T find her, you have to stick with me." As an afterthought he added, "Plus, you'll owe me ten berries!"

I repelled at the idea of making a deal with this random zigzagoon, but there would be no backlash to me. If he helped, my efforts to find her would be doubled. And if we didn't, staying with him instead of on my own seemed like a much more pleasant idea.

However, I refused to believe that I wouldn't be able to find her. "You'll really help?" I questioned.

"Of course I will, my red-eared friend!" he said a little too happily.

"What's your name?" The zigzagoon asked.

"My name is Aiden."

"Your girl isn't a bad namer! At least it's not, 'cuddles' or 'fluffy.'"

Confusion swam over me. How did he know my trainer was a girl? I relayed this thought over to him and he laughed in my face.

"Hah! Well, I don't assume that Cassie is a boys name!"

If I was a human, I would be red. It's been less than five minutes, and already I forgot that my screaming Cassie's name had woken him up.

"Anyways, 'Aiden'. I got no specific name, like your humans give you. I spose Zigzagoon is good enough for you though, am I right?"

"Yeah," I agreed. "Zigzagoon is fine."

We had searched the forest area together for an hour already, with Zigzagoon annoyingly pressing me to give up as every minute went by.

"Stop trying to get me to give up!" I angrily scolded Zigzagoon. I won't give up for until the sun goes not!"

"Just remember," Zigzagoon said for the first time sounding angry and tired. "The sun doesn't wait for anybody."

The sky was a beautiful shade of colors from underneath the canopy of trees. With splashes of red, orange, and yellow splattered across the sky's portrait, it signaled the end of another peaceful day. However, it was not peaceful for all.

After hours of searching and yelling for Cassie, I soon wasn't able to tolerate the mounting disappointment and fear. The night predators would soon come out to feast on small animals such as us. Even though I wanted to get back to Cassie, I knew I couldn't endanger Zigzagoon or myself like this.

I knew it was against the deal, but I had a backup plan. I could leave when Zigzagoon wasn't around, and find a path. From there I could go to the nearest town until someone figured I was lost and Cassie found me.

This was false hope however. I would never be able to trek through the entire forest without trouble. What if an aggressive pokemon came and beat the living crap out of me? Or what if a stray trainer tried to catch or sell me? I want to find Cassie, but the coward in me can't let that happen.

Meanwhile, I've been noticing that Zigzagoon was getting more and more nervous with each second. "You know what? Fine. My Zygarde... You just don't give up  
Do you? Come back with me before it gets too dark. Your trainer isn't worth staying out here for." he began pushing me towards the area he found me at.

"But..." I wanted to keep looking. I knew she was out there somewhere. But there's nothing I can do besides getting myself killed. A reluctantly followed the Zigzagoon.

"Why are you so nervous anyways?" I asked.

"You stick around at night, you'll see what I'm talking about. I've seen pokemon ripped apart by other pokemon in this forest. If you don't want that to be you, you'll stick with me."

Another thought occurred to me as I thought about his reply. "Who's Zygarde?"

"Doesn't matter," he said gruffly, not turning around to face me.  
I didn't say anything else.

Soon we were at the place he first revealed himself to me. "Where's your home?" I asked, turning to him. Instead of finding him there, I found him in the bush.

"Down here." I stuck my head in the bush just in time to see him scurry down a Zigzagoon sized hole.

"Woah." I was soon down in the cramped space with him. Zigzagoon had shorter legs, unlike Fennekin. So I had to fold my legs and sorta drag myself across the dirt. It wasn't going to be fun to clean later.

"Isn't it great? The hole as it is only lets smaller guys like us in, but the bush surrounding it conceals it completely." Zigzagoon said with obvious pride.

The area we were in was wide enough to barely fit him and I side by side. With a gentle slope upwards to the entrance of the hideaway in front of us, and a tunnel that seemed impossible for me to fit in behind us.

When I asked about it he said, "I can barely fit in there myself. It's where I keep my treasures," he said with a mischievous glint in his eye.

There we waited throughout the night. Howls and hoots were aplenty from above. Occasionally you could here some scratching and sniffing, or a squeal as some unlucky animal was carried away. At what I could only guess to be midnight, I realized Zigzagoon had fallen asleep due to his raspy, but quiet, snores.

I turned my thoughts to other things so the time may pass quickly. Could I really stay here with Zigzagoon? I had all but lost hope of finding Cassie. My only other option was to become the noises that I hear this night. To be carried away, never to be seen again.

My ears brushed the dirt ceiling, so I lowered my head to the ground. As drowsiness overtook me, I heard something of deep concern in the distance. It was a yell. Not of a specific name or thing, but a yell of pain.

With deep sorrow, I realized that this voice was familiar. More so than that, I knew who it was.

Cassie.

I struggled up, painfully bumping my head against the hard dirt above. I flailed as my sleepy muscled had new blood pumped into them, which unfortunately woke Zigzagoon.

"What are you-" he harshly whispered. But I didn't listen. I just had to get to Cassie. She was my trainer, and I was her pokemon. Simple as that.

Soon I had popped out of the hole with a raging Zigzagoon on my tail and a voice in my head.

After a few seconds of running, I crashed into an unfamiliar scene. There was a small clearing that looked very disturbed. The forest seemed to indicate that there was a struggle here a few moments ago.

After hearing yelps and growls from a few feet ahead, I ran forward to meet the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen in my short life.

A pokemon stood before me; adorning a coat of black fur. In several places, such as it's ankles, neck and back seemed to wear bone-like accessories. Around its neck, it seemed to be wearing a necklace.

This 'necklace' however, was well attached to the pokemon's throat. But that, the bone cuffs on its legs, and things on its back were nothing compared to the two horns on the creatures head.

Their ends appeared to be so sharp that they could easily end a pokemons life. All off these features gave it a devilish-like look.

It's murderous red eyes met mine as he stood up from his prey. Cassie. She seemed to have no wounds besides a deep gash in her side, with blood seeping through the hoodie, and three sharp cuts along her arm.

She was whimpering and whispering something about a Houndoom. Houndoom was likely to be the name of this pokemon.

She wasn't looking up; probably oblivious to the two smaller pokemons appearance. The houndoom however, was already in action, looking forward to two more fresh kills.

As I watched its filthy paws retract from Cassie's vulnerable body, a fire that I'd never felt before swelled inside of me. How dare it. How could Houndoom? To think what would have happened to her if I had not heard her yell.

I had no more time to think before Houndoom rammed into me with a skull-cracking headbutt. Zigzagoon, realizing that he was now pulled into this, reared back and let out a Walter pulse attack. It hit dead-on, doing massive damage. Houndoom was not down, however, likely for no time soon. It let out a thunderous roar and bit down on Zigzagoon with a bite.

I wanted to scream as Zigzagoon was flung side to side in the massive jaws, and thrown towards Cassie when he was released.

The previous unknown fire returned as I watch the Zigzagoon's life bleed alway through his skin. It didn't look fatal- not yet, but the fur that Houndoom was spitting out of its mouth would take a while to grow back.

The fire inside of me increased and grew more powerful, until holding it in hurt my body.

I let it all out, pouring myself into it as I let the powerful flamethrower attack envelop the surprised Houndoom. Although it wasn't an effective move, it still left it with many burns.

Zigzagoon's wounds were much less fatal then I realized, because he seemed to get back up without too much of a struggle when I looked over at him.

He sprinted at Houndoom with a fierce cry, letting off slightly red water pulses. Most of them hit, giving the pokemon fierce wounds.

Houndoom seemed to realize that this battle was not worth it, because it let out a wounded cry, and slowly retreated back into the forest.

"That's right, you stinking pup! Go back to where you came from! And may Yveltal greet you at its gates!" Zigzagoon yelled.

I didn't recognize the meaning of 'Yveltal', but it didn't matter. Cassie was starting to stand on shaky legs as I ran to her.

"Aiden!" She said collapsing to meet me. I licked her face and decided to never leave her again.

In only a moment of lapsed silence, I heard Zigzagoon say, "May Xerneas guide you, friend." I looked back only to see that Zigzagoon had disappeared.

"Don't worry Aiden, I'll never let you out of my sight again." she said, a sob at the edge of her voice. "Let's go ,before anything else happens."

lllllllllllllllllllllll

Before I knew it, we were in a town that Cassie called 'Santalune City.'  
Whether the forest was named after the city or the city was named after the forest, I'll never know. Fortunately for Cassie and much to the relief of me, the townsfolk pointed out that the town had both a poke center for me and a human hospital for her.

We first visited the human hospital because of Cassie's wounds. Although neither of our lives were being threatened, pokemon were more resilient and it would be safer to get Cassie treated first.

Unfortunately for me, pokemon were not allowed in the hospital. I believe one of the nurses went on about how pokemon were disgusting creatures that jumped in hands first when it came to dirtiness.

In my previous life, I was obsessed with keeping my fur coat clean and dirt-free, but I do admit that I was pretty dirty after the forest.

In my pokeball, I soon began to think about Zigzagoon. From what I could tell he had a special contempt for trainers, so it shouldn't be surprising that he didn't stick around.

But I thought, "Will I ever see him again? Will I meet more pokemon like him? Pokemon that will go out of their way to help you, pokemon that you can truly call a friend. Pokemon that wouldn't rather soon eat you then help you?"

Soon Cassie was done being treated, having her wounds stitched and disinfected. Since there was no other reason to stick around, she went to the nearby poke center with my pokeball in her pocket.

I was patched up and sent on my way, good as new.  
This only made me sad, thinking of Zigzagoon hiding out in his hole right now with blood staining the dirt below him.

Despite the discovery of my new flamethrower attack, I knew that I would have been dead meat if it wasn't for that brave Zigzagoon.

Just as that particles dissipates as I was sent out of my pokeball, a woman and a man walked up to Cassie.

The woman was clad in a business dress with high heels. She more other miscellaneous items as well, most notably a pen and paper.

She was blond with her hair in a ponytail. This, added with her important walk and tone showed that she was a very capable woman. Behind her was a man in normal looking clothes. The only thing off about him was a huge bag that he carried, I couldn't guess what was inside, but the only thing that came to mind was that I could easily fit in it.

"Cassie Kevian?" the woman said. As soon as she talked, I knew I was right. She was a completely serious human.

Cassie comically looked around, as if there must've been another Cassie Kevian in the room. "Who, me?"

The woman glanced at Cassie's bandaged arm. "Obviously."

"My name is Lynn Porter of the Lumiose Press. Would you mind answering a few questions please? It's regarding your encounter with a Houndoom. Last night, that is."

I wasn't sure I believed the woman. Did news travel that fast for humans?

Cassie didn't seem surprised when she replied. "Oh! Sure! I'd be happy to! But why would you want to interview me?"

The woman seemed a little frazzled. "I wouldn't quite say interview, but sure. We're asking because that Houndoom belongs to a very wealthy man. A few weeks ago he reported his Houndoom missing, and demanded that the police needed to find it. There have been absolutely no sightings until you happened to stumble upon it."

"Now, can you answer me this: Where did you find the Houndoom? It WAS in Santalune forest, correct?"

The woman brought up her pen and notebook, ready to write a book based on her expression.  
I wondered how she could have known any of that? Humans will never cease to amaze me.

"Oh, um... Yes, it was in that forest. If you're wondering where it was specifically, I couldn't tell you that. I barely remember I thing about the paths." Cassie said, embarrassed.

While the woman was scribbling some nonsense down on her notebook, Cassie asked. "This isn't going to be anything important, right? I'm not sure I want my name to even be mentioned."

This puzzled me. Why would she not want her name in the paper?

"It'll be in the paper, for sure, but definitely not front page stuff."  
She looked up from her paper. "Why? Would you rather have us not say anything about you?"

In a relieved tone, Cassie replied, "Yes please. It's just..."

"Oh, right...Kevian." the Lynn's face flushed red.

"Anyways," she said, adopting her serious tone once more. "Did you notice anything peculiar about this pokemon? Did it have any motive for attacking you?"

Cassie frowned. "No...not really. Except., maybe...it did look kinda hurt. Maybe it attacked me out of fear?" She said dubiously.

Lynn nodded. "That's right. After news of your attack spread, specialists that were trained to handle things like this went out and detained that Houndoom. When they found it, and had many permanent scars and plenty of fresh wounds.  
I wanted to make sure that Houndoom had those before you got away from it."

"Why would you need to know that?" Cassie inquired.

The man spoke up for the first time. "Well, the wealthy man Lynn told you about is currently on trial for pokemon abuse." he said straightforwardly. "It's believed that all those scars were inflicted by him. It's also believed that that's why the Houndoom ran away."

Cassie brought her hand to her mouth in horror. "People actually do that? How could they? It's inhumane!"

The man nodded. "That's why it's such a big deal. Thanks to you, that man will hopefully get the punishment he deserves."

"Right Markis. But next time, let me do all the talking, alright?" Lynn said, rolling her eyes.

"One more question," she told Cassie. "How did you find it? How did you get away? We need some excitement in this story to help sell our papers." she said dully.

Not exactly the employee optimism I expected her to have.

"Well," she started, grinning at me. "It all started after my brave little Fennekin here got a little carried away battling a pikachu..."

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**Woo. My longest chapter yet, even though I intended for it to be longer.**

**Sorry for the longer wait this time, I was losing focus on writing this. **

**Expect Chapter four within the week! (Hopefully)**


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